27/09/2007
NEWS STORY
The respected American business magazine BusinessWeek has run a survey among writers, editors and fans, to determine the most powerful people in sport.
Some of the most distinguished people from the worlds of sport and media contributed to the survey, given various criteria by which they could make their nomination.
Among the criteria: how an individual rates against their peers; how much money they control, generates, or influences; how long the person has
exercised power and the lasting consequences of that person's tenure - thir legacy.
In addition, BusinessWeek appealed to sports fans, with 160,000 voting on the magazine's website in order to nominate their favourite powerbrokers.
Looking at the criteria, one might have expected Bernie Ecclestone to be 'up there', then again, this is the man who said that F1 doesn't need America, and subsequently headed east, who made comments about the USA's racing sweetheart, and who presided over the fiasco that was Indianapolis 2005.
Consequently, Ecclestone didn't even make it into the Top 50, indeed he finished 57th, behind racing legends Roger Penske and Jeff Gordon.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was nominated 'all powerful', ahead of Tiger Woods and NBA Commissioner David Stern. NASCAR boss Brian France was sixth, ahead of News Corp's Rupert Murdoch (10th), David Beckham (17th) and IOC President Jacques Rogge (18th).